And Justin Gonzales leads Salem to a win with a three-hit effort.
Lehigh Valley IronPigs vs. Worcester Red Sox – PPD
The two teams will play a doubleheader on Friday, beginning at 4:05 ET. In Game One, Mick Abel is the scheduled starter for the Phillies’ affiliate, which seems unlikely since he was traded to the Twins on Thursday. The Woo Sox will start Kyle Harrison (2-2, 4.78). In Game Two, Lehigh Valley is TBD, while David Sandlin will make his first start since being promoted to Worcester. Sandlin was 5-4 with a 3.61 ERA in 17 appearances (13 starts) at Portland.
Portland Sea Dogs 2, Altoona Curve 1 (BOX)
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Caleb Bolden got the start for Portland and had his finest outing of the season, allowing one run over five innings, striking out five Altoona hitters (PIT). Both of his wins have come in his last two outings for Portland.
All of the scoring in this one occurred in the third inning. After the Curve got an RBI groundout in the top of the inning, the Sea Dogs answered with two runs in the bottom half. First, Mikey Romero knocked in Marvin Alcantara with an RBI single, followed by James Tibbs III doing the same to score Karson Simas. In Tibbs’ final game in the Red Sox organization before being moved to the Dodgers for Dustin May, Tibbs went 1-for-4 with an RBI. Over 30 games with Portland since being acquired in the Rafael Devers trade, Tibbs slashed .207/.319/.267, with a 13.8/28.3% BB:K ratio.
Zach Ehrhard also played his final game for Portland, being moved in the May deal as well. He finished his time here with a combined slash line of .267/.367/.429 between Greenville and Portland. Ehrhard had been a fourth-round draft pick in 2024 and recently moved into Sox Prospects’ Top-30.
Yovanny Cruz locked down his fifth save, throwing two flawless innings with two strikeouts.
On Friday night at 6:00, the Sea Dogs will send Dalton Rogers (2-3, 4.94) to the bump, opposing Dominic Perachi.
Winston-Salem Dash 8, Greenville Drive 2 (BOX)
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After falling behind 2-0 early, the Drive battled back in the top of the third for two runs, on RBI singles from 3B Antonio Anderson and LF Yophery Rodriguez. Things fell apart from there, however, with the Dash (CWS) scoring a run in the third before breaking it open with three more runs in the fourth. Starter Michael Sansone allowed three runs and six hits in three innings, before Darvin Garcia allowed four more in 3 2/3 innings of relief.
On the offensive side, Franklin Arias, Yophery Rodriguez, Hudson White, and Fraymi De Leon all contributed two hits, with De Leon also stealing a base.
Greenville and Winston-Salem both have TBD starters on Friday at 6:30 ET.
Salem Red Sox 4, Lynchburg Hillcats 2 (BOX)
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Salem rode a huge game from right fielder Justin Gonzales, as well as excellent relief pitching, to the win in this game. Gonzales had three hits, including two doubles, one of which was a game-tying RBI double in the third inning. The 18-year-old Gonzales is now slashing .280/.369/.381 for Salem. Yoeilin Cespedes drove in two with an RBI single in the fifth, which put Salem ahead for good at 4-2.
After starter Alex Bouchard allowed two early runs, the ‘pen shut things down for 7 1/3 shutout innings. Joey Gartrell got the win (3 2/3 innings), followed by P.J. Labriola (1 2/3 innings) and a shutdown two-inning save from Calvin Bickerstaff.
Salem’s Devin Futrell (0-4, 2.73) will get the start at 6:30 on Friday, while Lynchburg’s starter is TBD.